In India, economic losses from crop damages exceed $800 million per year

In many parts of India, a single noxious pollutant from coal-fired power stations drags down annual wheat and rice yields by 10% or more, according to a new study by Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability researchers.

The two grains are critical for food security in India, the second most populous country in the world and home to a quarter of all undernourished people globally.

“We wanted to understand the impact of India’s coal electricity emissions on its agriculture because there might be real trade-offs between meeting growing electricity demand with coal generation and maintaining food security,” said Kirat Singh, a PhD student in environment and resources in the Doerr School of Sustainability and lead author of the Feb. 3 study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Clean air and food security

Past studies have sought to quantify overlooked costs of burning coal for electricity by estimating the number of deaths linked to resulting pollution. Government agencies and other organizations use these figures – and estimates of the economic value of statistical life – to understand the costs and benefits of various economic development strategies and environmental regulations.

Until now, however, estimates of crop damages specifically tied to coal-fired power stations – which supply more than 70% of electricity in India – have been lacking despite more than a decade of research showing that air pollutants such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide hurt crop yields.

“Crop productivity is incredibly important to India’s food security and economic prospects,” said senior study author David Lobell, the Benjamin M. Page Professor in the Doerr School of Sustainability’s Earth System Science Department. “We’ve known that improved air quality could help agriculture, but this study is the first to drill down to a specific sector and measure the potential benefits of reducing emissions.”

Crop damage concentrated in key regions and seasons

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